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Page 401
know that. Will you tell me there was no plot to have you slain on that field?"
"If there was, it was none of your affair. It was my business."
"Oh yes?" Alinor sneered. "And what arrangements did you make to settle that business?" She turned away, then back again, her eyes blazing. "Since you speak of honor, let me remind you of one oath you gave that you seem willing to set aside most lightly. You came to me and offered me marriage that you might shield me and my children from harm. Perhaps the king wished me ill then, but it is nothing to what he feels for me now. You forget full easily that your life is not your own to spend as you please. With you I fall, and Adam, and Joanna. That makes your business my business most nearly."
At first Ian did not answer. He came around the chair that he had been holding onto and sat down heavily. His eyes slipped, almost as if he were too tired to hold his gaze steady, from Alinor's face to the floor.
"I was not unaware or uncaring," he said softly at last. "I did what I could. I spoke out, as near to accusing the king as I could, and took his promise"
"Pish tush," Alinor snapped. "I know what you did. I was there. Belike he would not press me to a new marriage. Instead, before a week was out, some fault would be found in me to lay me in prison. And there I would starve to death, and Adam would die also, and Joanna would be used as a bawd before he threw her to some dog he had chosen. Only"
"Stop!"
The cry of pain and horror brought Alinor to her senses. She bit her lip. She had not meant to say that. Ian was the kind to carry horrors around in his mind and embroider upon them. He seemed to have bad dreams enough without adding to his store. Alinor came across the room and laid a hand gently on his shoulder.

 
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